Saturday, December 31, 2011

Patron-Modèle seems to have been the "house brand" for the women's magazine Lé Petit Echo de la Mode.

The description on the back of the envelope translates to:

The anorak has patch pockets and is fitted to the waist with elastic. Turned down collar; set-in sleeves. Removable hood. Ski pants.

"Pantalon fuseau" can also be translated as "pegged pants," but the intent is clear; these trousers have a narrow leg to help keep the snow out and to tuck into the ski boots, which would have looked about like this (I suspect that these laces are much later replacements.)

From www.vintageskiworld.com

It's interesting that the description indicates a fabric choice of gabardine, which is a sturdy twill fabric made of worsted yarn. The anorak would have been made out of a woolen or worsted fabric as well, and I might add a silk lining for a little extra warmth, although the pattern doesn't call for a lining.

As was true for the earlier Patron Modèle that we saw, there is no separate instruction sheet. The maker is expected to use the illustrations on the front and the description of the pattern pieces on the back of the envelope.

Note the crotch gusset for the pants, necessary for sportswear in the years before stretch fabrics were introduced.

Although there was no instruction sheet, this pattern included a one-sheet that mostly contained advertising geared to home sewing, but had a few general instructions, and a helpful sizing chart. This size 44 is equivalent to about a 38" chest.

2 comments:

Somewhere out there, I'm sure there is a nice master's thesis on the development of waterproof fabrics. Oiled silk was available pretty early in the 19th century, if not before. At a guess I'd say waxed fabrics might have come along in the 18th century. Charles Mackintosh figured out how to rubberize fabric in the 1820's, I believe. But I think the range of waterproof fabrics available to home sewers was pretty limited until the last 40 years or so.

Wool isn't waterproof, but the tightly woven fabrics are pretty impermeable, and even when wet, don't get clammy.

The less fashionable side of home sewing

What we wear when we are not necessarily trying to communicate how fashionable we want to be is an area of interest for me. From the earliest days of commercial home sewing patterns the pattern companies produced patterns for utilitarian clothing and other objects. They must have sold, since they show up on ebay now and again, and when they do, I try to pick them up. I'll use this blog to shed a little light on this lesser known side of home sewing in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.